In a number of environments such as automotive environments, awnings, grass catcher bags and the like, the materials of construction are subjected to substantial stress at the formation seams. In other environments such as billboards, backlit signs, tape, and the like a coated or laminated substrate is used that must retain a regular geometry during handling so as to promote uniformity of strength in the finished product. In the past, such articles have normally been formed from high strength woven textiles that derive strength and stability from the tight weaving of substantial quantities of yarn.
Regardless of the fabric construction utilized, in seamed environments the zones adjacent the seams may experience relatively high stress levels during the life of the formed article. Due to these stress levels the zones immediately adjacent the seams may be subject to so called “combing” wherein the yarns adjacent the seam spread apart form one another under pressure and thereby open up interstitial voids or pinholes between the formation yarns. In undesirable situations such combing may also be accompanied by localized yarn breakage due to stress and/or damage from sewing needles. In order to reduce adverse consequences of seam combing and yarn breakage it has been common practice to utilize tightly woven constructions wherein the yarns forming the fabric are packed together in interwoven relation at a relatively high density. Such constructions reduce combing and also tend to arrest any propagation of a tear if one develops in the fabric.
In the past, knit structures have generally been considered to have limited utility in environments of high seam stress due to the fact that such constructions may be more prone to combing due to reduced structural stability. Moreover, localized yarn breakage may lead to an unraveling of the fabric thereby leading to extended tears. In traditional weft inserted warp knit fabrics a layer of in-lay warp yarns is disposed across a layer of inserted weft yarns such that the warp yarns are disposed in a first plane and the weft yarns are in a second different plane. The warp yarns and the weft yarns are bound together by a smaller tying yarn or stitching yarn that is knit so as to form an arrangement of stitches with one stitch at each row. In these prior constructions if the tying yarn is broken such as when the fabric is cut or sewn, the tying yarn can begin to de-knit and the inlay warp yarns can pull away from the weft yarns. While the effect of such de-knitting may be at least partially addressed by using two or more layers of fabric laminated together, such lamination may give rise to an undue level of complexity. Moreover, the total thickness and fiber requirements for a multi-layer construction with two adjoined layers of weft inserted warp kit fabric may offer little improvement over traditional single layer woven constructions.